1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to containers for storing and dispensing medicines, and more particularly to devices allowing the substances to be dispensed there from with substantially little to no contamination of the substances within the containers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Vials with medicine are provided for use for home, doctor's offices, emergency rooms, operating rooms, community clinics, and local hospitals. These vials are sometimes for single usage. Often, however, the contents of the vials may be used for multiple uses in one or more patients.
The usual method for removing fluid from such vials is to inject air into the vial and remove a commensurate amount of fluid. The vial often has a rubber top that allows insertion of a needle or syringe into the interior of the vial and subsequent removal of a portion or more the fluid contents.
An inherent problem with multiple uses of such vials is possible contamination of the fluid contents of the vial with a contaminated syringe. The syringe may be contaminated with benign elements including, for example, saline or additional medications. Unfortunately, the syringe may be also contaminated with, for example, blood and/or other body fluids from the same or other individual. Such contamination of the fluid contents can then potentially spread disease and infection to one or more individuals.
The most basic solution to the aforementioned possible contamination problem would be to never have multiple use vials. This is inherently a way to prevent the problem altogether; however, would result in wasted processing of additional medications and additional garbage that would further clutter the environment.
Multi-dose vial caps are present currently in a form that does not use needles. Such caps usually allow attachment of a syringe to a Luer lock adaptor to the cap on the vial so that additional needles are not wasted.
A Luer lock connection generally includes a male Luer connector with a tapered conical portion that is adapted to fit into a correspondingly shaped receptacle of a female Luer connector (i.e., a hub). A spin nut is commonly disposed on the male Luer connector and is rotatable relative to the tapered conical portion. The spin nut includes internal threads that are adapted to engage external threads on the female Luer connector to lock together the Luer connectors. When properly engaged, the conical portion fits tightly within the receptacle to produce a sealed interconnection.
However, use of a Luer lock connection in and of itself does not prevent contamination.